Not too long ago, in this very galaxy, I wrote a song about that pivotal moment in gaming where it all comes down to the final toss of the dice. In old skool Dungeons & Dragons, Save or Die was a term used for extreme situations where a character’s life depended on a single roll. Those moments can be extremely intense, and the song is a tribute to that intensity.

The video was shot on an iPhone using a mix of normal video and timelapse. Shooting it was unplanned – I was feeling distracted after a night of very little sleep, and thought I’d play around with shooting timelapse stop motion, pushing a few dice around. After watching the first clip I got the idea of turning it into something else… I toned and processed it to match the mood of the tune and added floaty lyrics for cheese (and for bonus cheese, I used avQest aka “the Diablo font”).

It’s my birthday, so what better time to share a bit of good news? If I had my way, Nebula Rescue would be out yesterday, but I am still tweaking and adding the last details. But while you wait for the game, here is the freshly released soundtrack! The two tracks featured in the game are now a mini digital album, including an extended version of the menu track, “Making Choices”.

Listen to the whole thing using the embedded player, and get a copy of the entire soundtrack for $1.99 (or more) via Bandcamp.

As for the game itself, it’s really down to the final details now. I had one persistent bug that took two full days to hunt down, but the game plays the way it’s supposed to now, and the difficulty level is balanced how I want it. I still need to add a few sound effects, and Nebula Rescue will be ready to head to the App Store for approval.

Don’t forget that you can “Like” Nebula Rescue on Facebook too – there’s even an email signup, if you want notification when the game goes live (or consideration for a free promo/review copy).